Media Advisory 8/1/19

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We have our annual trip to Fenway Park scheduled for Friday August 9th against the LA Angels.
There are still tickets available. Tickets are $79 each and include the bus ride to/from the stadium.
Complete/Return the registration form with payment.
The Sox and Angels are fighting for a playoff spot and the Angels showcase two young stars: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani....Shohei Ohtani was the 2018 Rookie of the Year and is both a star pitcher and an outfielder/DH for the Angels (he holds the record for the fastest pitch ever thrown in the Japanese league [102mph])...and Mike Trout is simply the best active player in the MLB. Mike Trout has been 1st or 2nd for the A.L. MVP balloting in 6 of the last 7 years. So join us to watch Mookie, JD, Xander, and Beni make their push to the playoffs from the friendly confines of Fenway Park.
Congratulations! The contract has been ratified by both the Chapter and the College.
Wednesday 7/24 was our first set of hearings related to Telework denials. We were anticipating reviewing 3 agencies (SEEC, DCF, and DRS), however, the appeal process started off a little slow as "binding facilitation" is not a concept we have engaged in before. There were some disagreements on how the process would work and who should be seated in the room, but we were able to move through those kinks and get testimony on the record from all of the SEEC telework applicants in attendance as well as the agency. We will now wait for the facilitators instructions/determinations on these appe
Have you ever seen a news report or talk show discuss issues around teaching and learning and thought to yourself or said to your colleagues, “Why don’t they just ask a real teacher about (you fill in the blank)?”
The AFT Teacher Leaders Program is a union-sponsored program designed to help prepare YOU to be that classroom teacher, facilitating discussion of the issues that affect our profession both here in New Orleans and nationally.
Interested?
July 19, 2019
Dear CTA Members,
Who are we? We're Porter Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, and here is our history.
UPDATE 7/18/19:
SEBAC and the State have agreed to a pension re-amoritization plan. This agreement only impacts the payments made by the State to fund the pension liability, it does not impact benefits. This plan will go before the legislature for approval. This wasn't a difficult discussion, this was the original recommendation from 2016, however, then-Governor Malloy sought a much more aggressive payment plan in 2016 so of course we agreed to that. In an effort to stabilize the State's annually required payments, current Governor Lamont sought a new agreement reflecting the prior recommendation with an option to revisit the payment plan within a few years.
SEBAC has released this statement:
SEBAC and the Lamont Administration have completed their discussions on pension re-amortization in accordance with the recently passed biennial budget and have reached an agreement. It keeps the parties’ commitment to make no change in pension benefits.
The agreement will be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.
This is part of our continuing effort to work with the Lamont Administration on “win-win” solutions for achieving efficiency that will benefit everyone. Completing the re-amortization of the state pension fund, adjusting the schedule to pay off Connecticut’s pension debt, will help stabilize state pensions and ensure obligations to current and future retirees are fully funded; it was included in the recently passed budget along with re-amortizing the Teacher’s Retirement Fund.
None of the proposed savings would result in changes to the pension and health insurance benefits of state employees or retirees.
SEBAC will not be part of asking for more sacrifices for state employees, who have already given so much for the people we serve. Our 2017 agreement is saving Connecticut taxpayers $25 billion over the next 20 years, helping to close the chronic budget deficits that imperil vital public services.
Attached —
July 15, 2019 Memorandum of Understanding
SEBAC released the following statement 7/10/19
"SEBAC and the Lamont administration met Monday 7/8 to work on the details of a re-amortization of the state pension fund. Meetings will continue. This is part of our continuing effort to work with the Lamont administration on “win-win” solutions for achieving efficiency that will benefit everyone. Completing the re-amortization of the state pension fund, adjusting the schedule to pay off Connecticut’s pension debt, will help stabilize state pensions and ensure obligations to current and future retirees are fully funded; it was included in the recently passed budget along with re-amortizing the Teacher’s Retirement Fund. None of the proposed savings would result in changes to the pension and health insurance benefits of state employees or retirees.
SEBAC will not be part of asking for more sacrifices for state employees, who have already given so much for the people we serve. Our 2017 agreement is saving Connecticut taxpayers $25 billion over the next 20 years, helping to close the chronic budget deficits that imperil vital public services."
The above statement is accurate and I agreed to post it...to add a little more insight into what is occuring, pension "re-amoritization" is essentially re-financing the pension payments that the State is required to make annually...this does NOT change our benefits, it makes sense to re-finance the payment plan (for us, for the State, and the public), and labor savings were actually part of the State's budget and this fits that purpose. So talks will continue as to how best to re-finance, but be secure that this will not cause changes to benefits or further increase contributions to the pension plan.